Adults often forget the great lesson of elementary school art class, that – as the famous artists that work with Turnaround Arts and Park West Gallery always teach – anyone can be an artist. Instead, work and daily responsibilities tend to dull the creative tendencies, resulting in an attitude that art is best left to kids and “real artists.”
Luckily, the increasing popularity of adult coloring books is bringing a little creative energy to those who thought their days of arts and crafts were behind them, and apps are even letting us take those projects on the go. Here are 5 of our favorites, for both the serious artist and the margin doodlers among us.
Sketch It Out
Tayasui Sketches is one of the top art apps available for tablets today, offering paints, markers, pencils, and more that will satisfy even the advanced artists. Empowered by the improved capacities of new tablets, Tayasui Sketches could have barely been imagined even a few years ago outside of computer-anchored drawing tools. Whatever you’ve used before, you’ll be impressed by this app.
Get Out Your Brushes
Whether you love to paint and hate the mess or you’ve never experimented with the medium, the free app Brushes lets you paint on the go, turning your tablet into canvas and palette alike. Pair this app with the enhanced touch potential of the new iPad Pro and you could think your device is the real thing.
Picture Perfect Art Projects
One of the results of our smartphone saturated culture is that everyone thinks they’re a photography. But while it still takes a fair bit of skill to capture a truly impressive shot with the average smartphone camera, photo editing apps like PicsArt place more modification tools at your disposal than most of us have on our computers – and they make it easier than ever to create compelling photographs out of your snapshots.
Watch It On Loop
There are a lot of drawing, coloring, and even painting tools available for your smartphone and tablet, but Loop may be the first tool to put animation at your fingertips. Sketch your own cartoon and then play it back – it’s somewhere in between Pixar’s animation desk and those flipbooks you made as a kid.
Like The Sound Of That
Not all art projects look the same – or even look like anything at all. That’s why we’ve included the Arturia iMini, a Moog synthesizer emulation. For the musically inclined, or those who just find the goofy sounds of synthesizers amusing, this app lets you make music on the go without subjecting the entire subway car to your guitar solos. You’ll have fun and your fellow commuters will be grateful.
Download your favorites from this batch and the next time the creative impulse strikes, you’ll be ready to doodle, paint, or even play your heart out. Creativity apps are opening the arts back up to adults who never thought they were meant to create, in your pocket to remind you that anyone can be an artist.